A friend of a friend was recently mugged here in our "quiet little drinking village with a fishing problem." She is 77 yrs old and in the typical physical condition that would go with a 77 yr old. She approached me and requested to take my CHL class. We have discussed the pros/cons of revolvers & semi-autos and I do not wish to get into that here.

What I am looking for are suggestions for pistols .380 and above, that have fairly weak recoil springs. I am attempting to narrow down the field of pistols for her to try. She has no problem shooting accurately; it is the hand/arm strength for racking of the slide which is the issue. Thus far the Astra A-100 is the easiest one for her to use.

Please give me your suggestions and do not turn this into a caliber debate!!

One of my shooting buddies bought his wife a Bersa .380 and it's turned out to be quite a value. Working ease, easy to maintain, very accurate and inexpensive ($175 NIB at a gun show here). Might want to try that. Also, my girlfriend has a Colt Gov't. model .380 that is quite a "ladies" gun too-all of the aforementioned atributes and looks like a mini 1911 to boot. Other than that, all other .380s I've looked at (SIG, Browning,Beretta and Walther) have "tight" or "stiff" slides-maybe not what an older young lady requires.

I'm smart enough to use a dumb gun-and not dumb enough to use a smart gun

I would also like to suggest a small revolver. I would suggest looking at the Colt D frames and the Smith K frame snubbies. These have relatively large grips and so easy to handle accurately. The manual of arms for a revolver is far simpler than any semi, particularly when things go wrong.

I don't know how well it would "work" but Beretta markets the .380 (86-FS)Cheetah with the barrel that tilts up for chambering, making it at least easier for that operation.Not too sure about that 1st DA pull though.Check it out at www.berettausa.comGood luck on that one...teaching that even when the mag is out, the round in the chamber is still ready to fire.

One point:You say she lacks the strength necessary to rack the slide on certain pistols, but wants a .380 or above...

How much recoil can she stand without losing control of the weapon, should she ever have to use it? The LAST thing she needs, is to lose control of it on the first round, and then end up needing a second.

I agree with everyone else, she needs a revolver. I recomend the S&W 640. If she insists on a auto, and if it is in her price range the HK USP 9mm Compact is easy to operate and easy to rack the slide.

I agree with a "Revolver". All .380 semi's have strong recoil springs ,thus are pretty hard to pull the slide back. May I suggest a .22 mag. revolver from Taurus like the 941 with a 2 in. barrel. I think .22 mag. hollow points are good rounds and the 77 yr. old can still handle it reasonably well..

Originally Posted By hydrotx:A friend of a friend was recently mugged here in our "quiet little drinking village with a fishing problem." She is 77 yrs old and in the typical physical condition that would go with a 77 yr old. She approached me and requested to take my CHL class. We have discussed the pros/cons of revolvers & semi-autos and I do not wish to get into that here.

What I am looking for are suggestions for pistols .380 and above, that have fairly weak recoil springs. I am attempting to narrow down the field of pistols for her to try. She has no problem shooting accurately; it is the hand/arm strength for racking of the slide which is the issue. Thus far the Astra A-100 is the easiest one for her to use.

Please give me your suggestions and do not turn this into a caliber debate!!

Thank you all in advance,Joel

Give the guy a break he asked for HELPFULL suggestions

<img src=/images/smilies/anim_rolleyes.gif border=0 align=middle><font color=red>"Millions of people get along quite well every day without car

I agree whole-heartedly that a revolver would be in her best interest in this case. However, she flatly refuses that option at this time. I want to show her what is available in the semi-auto world that she may/may not be able to utilize. I am hoping that once she sees this, she will take my initial advice and stick with a .38 revolver. But if not, then she will hopefully have a semi-auto she can use.

This is the reason in my initial post I didn't want to bring revolvers into the discussion in this forum.

The semi-autos I have in the safe to show her are:Beretta 92Glock 191911Walther PPKAstra A-100Sig 225CZ-50HK USP-CHK P7Keltec P-32MakarovKahr K-9

I'd go with your Glock 19 (my first suggestion to you) or the Keltec P-32. Most .380's, being straight blowback, have heavier springs and are harder to rack the slide. I'd say go with one of the locking barrel variants instead of a straight blowback.

That said, my wife has a Walther she really likes. I don't like it, it recoils too much, and the shape of the grip eats up my hand. However, I'm not the one shooting it, she is. She's very accurate with it and likes it. Good enought for me. While not a granny yet, she's 47 years old, and 5'2". After years of training horses and dogs, she has a pretty firm grip.